Kiribati is the island country associated with the earliest New Year's Eve celebrations in its Line Islands.
Kiribati stretches across a vast area of the central Pacific and uses several time zones. Its Line Islands, including Kiritimati, observe UTC+14, the world's furthest-forward civil time zone. As a result, inhabited communities there are among the first places to enter a new calendar year.
The timing is a consequence of the International Date Line and Kiribati's decision in 1995 to align its eastern islands with its western islands on the same calendar date. Before that adjustment, the country was divided by the date line, creating a practical problem for administration and travel.
Kiritimati is often called Christmas Island, but it is not the same island as Australia's Christmas Island. Samoa and Tonga are also early Pacific celebrants, yet the UTC+14 Line Islands give Kiribati the earliest standard civil time among inhabited locations.